Watch rugby world records set for fastest ball caught, most tackles and largest scrum

There is a select number of world-record categories for the sport of rugby that are well known to fans — including most games, most tries and most points — but Guinness also keeps track of several truly arcane marks which we share here…

In February of 2019, six Wales rugby legends gathered at Cardiff Arms Park stadium with the intention of breaking some obscure records as part of Six Nations Championship coverage. The first mark targeted was Fastest Rugby Ball Caught which stood at 56.3 miles per hour.

Outfitted in body armor, Gareth Thomas broke the record when he barely held onto a ball fired at 58.5 mph from a distance of 8 meters. His reign as world’s best was short lived as Ospreys fly-half James Hook snagged a missile traveling at 62.5 mph.

Shane Williams, who tallied 58 tries for the the Wales national team from 2000 to 2011, took aim at the record for Most Rugby Tackles in One Minute with 21 being the number to beat.

After three of his mates tried at the record and came up short, Williams managed to flatten 23 rugby tackle bags to walk away with a framed Guinness plaque at the age of 41.

For the third record, we head to cross the Irish Sea to Dublin where rugby-factory Blackrock College and the Irish Youth Foundation formed the Largest Rugby Scrum. With 946 participants intertwined in a scrum stretching for 82 meters (269 feet), it may be awhile until this record is bested.